Jide Technology Corporation just dropped a massive third update of Remix Operating System (OS). Remix OS 3.0 gives users the ability to install Android on almost any hardware. Like Linux, Remix runs great on slow or older hardware. If you’ve got moldering junk rotting away, now is the perfect time to put it to use.

I’d like to thank William Tocci Junior for crafting a laboriously detailed installation guide. Without his informed expertise, this article wouldn’t exist.

Hardware and Software Requirements

You can run Remix OS on a much weaker system, although with performance penalties. Even so, my 1 GHz AMD Kabini system runs every single app that I’ve tried with speed and fluidity. Here’s a shot of a Remix-based carputer that I’ve been working on:

Like all mobile operating systems, it includes GPS navigation via Google Maps, media playback capabilities, and streaming music — among many other features. Almost any app in Android can also run on Remix.

Now that you were warned, here’s how to deploy GParted to a USB drive:

Insert a flash drive (at least 512 MB), DVD, or CD into your computer and run UNetbootin. This file is located inside of the package containing Remix OS. You will need to unzip the package, first. After UNetbootin loads, first check the radio button for Diskimage. Second, click on the box with three dots inside of it and locate your image (which is an ISO file which you must unzip) of GParted. Third, select the flash drive that you’ve just inserted. Fourth, select OK.

Imaging Remix OS 3.0 on a USB Drive or DVD

In the same way you imaged GParted, use Jide’s modified version of UNetboointo to burn the ISO of Remix OS onto a bootable drive. The program resides inside of the same package that contains the ISO file of Remix OS. The file name is “Remix_OS_for_PC_Installation_Tool”. You can use the steps detailed above. The only difference between GParted and Remix OS is that Remix OS requires a USB drive that’s at least 8 GB. Jide’s official instructions mention that USB 3.0 is required, but since you’ll be installing Remix onto a hard drive, you can ignore that.

Jide packages a slightly modified version of UNetbootin inside of the zipped file that you downloaded from their website. I recommend using this to image Remix onto a bootable drive.

Use GParted to Clean the Target Drive (Optional)

Once you’ve imaged Gparted and Remix OS to bootable drives, insert the GParted drive into the target machine and start your computer. Before it fully boots, tap on either the F10, F11, or F12 key. The specific key pressed depends on your system, but the majority of selectable boot systems use the F12 key. You may or may not need to disable Secure Boot in the UEFI. For those only familiar with BIOS, here’s how to find if you have BIOS or UEFIHow to Check If Your PC Uses UEFI or BIOS FirmwareHow to Check If Your PC Uses UEFI or BIOS FirmwareSometimes when troubleshooting, you'll need to know whether your PC uses UEFI or BIOS. Here's how you can check with ease.Read More.

After a long initialization process, GParted displays two menus. Most users can hit enter at all menus, but in case you’d like a guided tour, follow these steps. First, at the Configuring console-data menu, hit Enter.

Second, at the keymap language menu, hit Enter if you’re a U.S. English speaker. Otherwise, type in the number associated with your native tongue and hit Enter.

After a few loading screens, the GParted interface appears. You should see the following menu:

If you see any partitions on the disk, you need to erase them. First, right-click on the entry and choose Delete from the context menu. Second, choose Apply from the options at the top of the GParted interface. If you have multiple hard drives, make sure that you’ve selected the correct one. Failure to do so will destroy your data.

Now that you’ve got a clean storage drive, you need a partition. First, select Device from the top of the screen and left-click Create Partition Table. Second, left-click Apply. This creates a new partition table on your disk. You’ll receive a warning that your data will be erased. Choose Apply. The next step: create a partition on the drive.

First, left-click on Partition from the top of the interface and choose New. Then left-click Apply.

The next menu will display the size of the partition. The default size and file system (EXT4) work perfectly. Just left-click Add. You’ve now prepared your storage drive for Remix OS. You can exit GParted by clicking on the black square at the top-right of the screen. You can exit the GParted application by double-clicking on the red exit icon. Remove the GParted drive from your computer once prompted.

Installing Remix OS to a Hard Drive

This step is the most complicated out of all steps in this guide. First, you must boot from the drive with Remix OS installed using the appropriate F-key (normally F12). Second, highlight (but don’t initiate the installation process yet) the option for Resident mode and press E.

You’ll see a list of Linux (or UNIX) commands. Use your keyboard’s directional keys to navigate to the entry "DATA = USB_DRIVE_1" and replace it with "INSTALL=2". It should look like this before you edit the text (unwanted text circled in red):

After editing the text, it should look like this:

Remember that Linux is case-sensitive, so you must adhere to letter casing. After verifying that the correct command has been edited in, press F10. The installation process should begin. Installation and initial boot can take as long as 30 minutes.

Once it finishes, you’ll receive a prompt to install in English or two different dialects of Chinese. You’ll want English, most likely.

Installing the Google Play Store

Remix 3.0 includes the Play Store by default, although getting it working requires activation. If you do not possess internet access, this step won’t work. Fortunately, Remix includes all of the driver support contained in Linux.

The process is simple: double-click on the Play activator from the Remix OS desktop. From there, you’ll enter a guided activation configuration process.

Should You Install Remix OS 3.0?

If you own an old computer, then yes. Remix OS 3.0 captures everything that’s amazing about Android and makes it installable on most hardware. While it’s not completely open source, Remix’s developers fully abide by open source licensing.

Like its predecessor, Remix’s third iteration brings with it excellent app and system compatibility. Most x86 systems cannot run most Android apps because of fundamental logic differences between ARM code and x86. Remix uses a method called ARM emulation, which allows x86 systems to bypass this restriction. In a nutshell, if you love Linux’s low resource requirements, but dislike its app ecosystem, Remix OS 3.0 may win you over.

Have you tried Remix OS 3.0 yet? What were your experiences? If not, what are your thoughts on it?

The Gparted step briefly mentions this. The Remix installer also mentions during installation that installing RemixOS erases the target drive. But I'll include a warning in the very beginning of the article.

I have an Asus EEE 2G Surf, the really base version where there is little option of adding memory devices. Would it be possible to use an SD card instead of the non-existent hardrive on my machine to load Remix?

You can install Remix OS to a microSD card, but it may take forever to boot. You also need to make sure that your device can boot from internal storage, rather than the hard drive. Most modern devices can, but a few will not.

Trying to install RemixOS on Dell Inspiron 8600. I get two lines about not running on family 6 (CPU and something else) and error boxes "Couldn't mount system partition" and "RemixOS installation failed."
I used the Gparted program and the RemixOS installation tool as specified. What am I missing, or is my computer unable to use RemixOS?

Hello. I have just managed to install the OS on my old Dell Mini 10v netbook. After hitting TAB to alter the boot options I had to simply add "INSTALL=1" without erasing anything. That did the trick and I hope it does for you also if you are still interested. Performance on Dell Mini 10v is poor though...

INSTALL=1 also can work. Older Atom processors should be able to run Remix without a lot of problems. You MAY want to turn off screen animations in develop options though. The 2GB of RAM should be more than enough.

Thank you for your kind answer. Where can I find the develop options though?

Kannon Yamada

September 6, 2017 at 1:21 am

My pleasure! Developer Options is a hidden feature, although i thought it was exposed in Remix. Basically, you go to Settings -> About (at the very bottom) and then start tapping on the Build number until it grants you developer options. Then if you back out to the Settings menu, you'll see developer options.

In Developer Options you can turn off animations (which I HIGHLY recommend) and limit the number of background apps. The tightest settings will make your system a one-app device. But even so, it'll become more usable.

Thank you so much !!!! All day I try to install on my laptop from usb memory stick, on laptop that not have any OS. But for me was no need to format the hdd, the command was done all automaticly.
So its enough to make usb with remix os and just use step of installing.

Hi Bakhsis, I'm afraid that this may not be possible Remix OS isn't rooted by default and getting GPS working would require editing files that are only possible with root. I believe there is a rooted version of Remix OS on XDA, but I don't know how successful you'd be tinkering with the OS. I've tried using the rooted version and couldn't make the changes that I wanted.

Many thanks for this great tutorial. Worked like a charm in my case.
The only difference I found is with screenshot "remixos30-before-editing.jpg": "Use your keyboard’s directional keys to navigate to the entry "DATA = USB_DRIVE_1" and replace it with "INSTALL=2" - in latest install there is more text than that but it works if you just add what you suggest right after "showlogo=1".

I installed it on a full 500GB HD (single boot partition) and I wonder whether there is a way to use only part of a HD for REMIX (something like 100GB at first main partition) and keep the remaining disk space for something else like a FAT32 or NTFS partition?

Otherwise, is there a way to clone a full disk that is formatted and runs REMIX? I would to replicate this installation to another PC, without having to go through the whole process again...

Hi John, this is very odd. I recently tested the install=2 method out in the November 25th build of Remix OS. It failed for some reason, but oddly enough adding "install= 2" (with a space inbetween install= and 2) allowed the installation to continue.

The default installation tool inside of the Remix OS package can alter the Windows bootloader to create a dual-booting device. However, it's Windows only. And modifying your bootloader can render the system unbootable.

Regarding cloning, that would only work on a system with the exact same hardware (with secure boot turned off). If the hardware is different then a clone may not work. I haven't tried this out, but am reasonably certain.

Thanks for this. Unfortunately, I don't really remember if I used a space between install= and 2 but I would say I rather dind't add that space and I'm sure I didn't get the same text on screen and had to replace more characters until I reached "showlogo=1".

Something else: I currently run version "Remix_OS_for_PC_Android_M_32bit_B2016112201" - does this version include an automated update procedure for further versions or is there a specific way for doing this in the future?

PS: problem solved with updates - while Remix OS help online page states that there is an option in settings which actually doesn't exist, I found out that the package comes with a small app called "System Update" that does the job and provides specific settings for updates.

Kannon

January 26, 2017 at 10:02 am

Thanks for the update. That build by default should include the automatic update feature. However, I should note that it appears that the beta update channel does not work.

William

October 8, 2016 at 6:56 am

There comes a time when you have to realize that despite what the writers *say*, your system will not run additional OSes within other OSes.

I just setup the Remix Player on my i3-3217U, a dual-core 1.8GHz system with 4GB RAM. Now, it'll be 4 years this December and virtualizing an OS (Ubuntu 16.04) or running a simulated OS app like the Player are no-gos on a system such as this. That makes me wonder if other so-called "low resources" OSes, like LXKE(?) will perform well when virtualized.

As a standalone OS, dual-booting on this Windows 7 Pro laptop, Ubuntu 16.04 works like a charm. I bet RemixOS would too, but as it's not a full-blown Android OS (AND I appreciate what the devs did here), I'll stick to my Android phone for their apps.
Maybe when I upgrade my PC with a whole lot more RAM, I'll try running more virtual OSes.

Remix also has a virtualized version of their OS called Remix OS Player. It should almost certainly run on your system. Ivy Bridge-U is still a modern processor. Isn't it something like 22nm? We're only on 14nm now. That's not a big difference.

Almost identical problem here, after a successful install the restarted computer sits with a blinking cursor on a black screen. No problems clearing with GPARTED and I'm only using the installer/unetbootin that came with the package(s). Tried both 32 and 64 bit, same result.

Sounds like your diagnosis of no bootloader installed, but what's the fix? There must be another way to add that. I'm sooooo close...

Unfortunately, it's Windows only. I've managed to get Remix OS running inside of a virtual machine, without using Remix Player. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to persist data across reboots. It might be that the bootloader is never properly situated on the disk (first sector).

Sorry, I wasn't looking for the virtual Remix. I'm trying to install it on an old laptop without Windows on it, and I followed your instructions above, which went well enough, but that's what won't boot.

There's an executable file inside of the unzipped Remix OS image that will image Remix OS onto a flash drive. The flash drive becomes a bootable installer. Unfortunately, this program is Windows only, which means you must either create the image on someone else's Windows machine or use a virtualized installation of Windows. Right now Microsoft lets anyone download and install Windows XP, which means you might be able to create a bootable installer inside of a virtualized copy fo Windows XP.

It's a little on the complicated side, and I'm not sure whether or not it will work.

Yeah, you have to get VirtualBox to boot from a USB drive. There's a few other ways to do it, but this one should in theory work.

EDIT: I should also mention that Remix now makes a VirtualBox version of Remix OS called Remix OS Player. It just came out a couple days ago. You can download it here: http://www.jide.com/remixos-player

I don't know for certain whether or not this method will work. According to earlier press releases, the Remix OS installer only supported Windows 7 or later. that doesn't mean it won't run on a Windows XP system though. It's worth a shot if you're totally out of options.

You have to boot from the USB drive. It's possible that your computer is so old that it doesn't include a USB boot option -- that's normally computers that are over ten years old. Most computers included some kind of USB boot option by around 2003.

Oops, I should have mentioned that you may or may not need to enable USB drives as a bootable device in your BIOS. What is the model number of your computer? I could check to see whether or not it supports this feature.

That sounds as if it's not installing the bootloader. Your system is definitely BIOS and not UEFI. Have you tried installing using the 32-bit image, rather than the 64-bit one? Both images should work, but the 32-bit one might be easier to install.

Optionally, you can try changing the boot sequence for your drives. However, given your description of what happened, this probably won't work.

Yeah I used gparted to prep the drive. Then installed the 32 Bit OS. The OS installs but doesn't boot up unless the USB is plugged in. I tried to repeat the process with gparted and I can see that the OS is installed on the disk.

The only difference I see from what I've done and what you have listed is when I'm installing the OS I have to hit tab instead of "e" then when I go to replace the "DATA=" with "INSTALL=2" on my system is shows "SRC= DATA="

Hi Michael, did you resolve this issue with the successful install but no boot (SRC= DATA=)?
I have experienced the same with the 32bit installer, however I am using the correct packaged version of UNetbootin in Windows 10. How to proceed???

If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds as if your bootloader is not the same bootloader as used in the Remix OS 3.0 package. Would you have perhaps downloaded a separate copy of UNetbootin and used it to image the ISO of RemixOS 3.0?

The UNetbootin inside of the RemixOS package (inside of the zipped file) has been renamed "Remix_OS_for_PC_installation_Tool-B201". It's been modified to install Remix. The regular version of UNetbootin does work, but it requires a completely different and more complex set of instructions. I'll edit that into the article because it's confusing as it's written. Please confirm if this is the case.

Ah, I see what's going on! This is my fault. I failed to mention that imaging Remix OS 3.0 onto a USB drive requires using the modified version of UNetbootin inside of the Remix OS ZIP package. I apologize for the error. Thank you for helping correct this!

Hi Michael, it looks like my responses to you are getting eaten. OK, so I've given it some thought and it appears that your best option is to try creating the Remix OS install USB drive from within an emulator. I believe (but am not certain) that it's possible to do this by virtualizing Windows and creating the installation medium from within the virtual Windows. Windows XP was supposed to be free to download as an ISO, but I can't find it anywhere. All the links are now dead.

Thanks for the kind words! It bothered me that there weren't any instructions available on how to install Remix OS. In late August Jide published instructions, but they weren't complete and were also partially incorrect.

Kannon is a Tech Journalist (BA) with a background in international affairs (MA) with an emphasis on economic development and international trade. His passions are in China-sourced gadgets, information technologies (like RSS), and productivity tips and tricks.